Regular readers surely know by now that I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few months trying to improve my photography skills. I ran across a very good blog post yesterday entitled 10 Traits You Should Possess if You Want to be a Good Photographer. In reading through the 10 Traits, I found myself agreeing with each of them. But I also noticed that you could substitute graphic design in place of photography in many of the items. So even if you aren’t a photographer, you should give the list a look and see how some of the traits can make you better at design or at something else in your life.

Probably the one that jumped out to me the most was #9.

“You need to try a little bit harder than the next guy. The good photographers wait an extra 15 minutes for that perfect sunset color. They study their manual at night even when they are tired. They spend money they don’t have to attend workshops and buy books on photography. They go the extra mile.and then they do it again.”

Let’s plug in CorelDRAW to that statement. Many users just do the project at hand and don’t worry about making themselves better. Learn more about the features you use and those you don’t. Try to find new ways to get a project done in less time. Try to find examples of good design and learn from them. Having this focus will allow you to put out better designs in less time!